TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gerald, Carresse 
AU  - McPherson, Christi 
AU  - McDaniel, Tha’Mes 
AU  - Xu, Zhigang 
AU  - Holmes, Bryce 
AU  - Williams, Leonard 
AU  - Whitley, Niki 
AU  - Waterman, Jenora Turner 
PY  - 2014
TI  - A BIOPHYSIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SETTLED LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY HOUSING DUSTS
JF  - American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
DO  - 10.3844/ajabssp.2014.153.166
UR  - https://thescipub.com/abstract/ajabssp.2014.153.166
AB  - The levels and composition of agricultural dusts are influenced by animal species, production strategy, housing type and ventilation efficiency. Agricultural dust within animal houses is complex and consists of feed particles, microbes and their products, dander, fecal matter, gases, metals and other organic and inorganic components. Livestock and poultry production facilities may be categorized as confinement, semi-confinement or pasture-based. Characterization of animal husbandry building dust will provide insight into understanding exposures experienced by animals, workers and farm visitors. The goal was to characterize biophysiochemical features of livestock dusts from swine, small ruminant, equine, poultry and cattle husbandry units. Settled dust samples were collected from livestock and poultry housing units at the University Farm and other livestock farms across the state. Morphological features were determined by electron microscopy and gravimetry. Biochemical evaluation consisted of pH determination and trace metal detection via mass spectrometry. Biological assessment centered on bacterial characterization via selective media, DNA analysis and endotoxin quantitation. Morphological analyses revealed higher levels of respirable and thoracic particles in poultry, swine, small ruminant and equine units compared to the dairy unit (p